A Caffeinated Life

When I was ten years old, my father introduced me to coffee. He told me that he was preparing me for college. When he went, coffee dates were common. I would take my coffee with creamer, milk and three sugars, having not yet developed a palette for the bitter taste but wanting to be so grown up.

As I got older, I was weaned off of the combination sweeteners and introduced to the fabulous world of diner coffee, Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks. My first job at 16 was even at the local Dunkin Donuts in my hometown. I worked there with a bunch of boys my age and had a ball.

Starbucks became a favorite meet-up spot in high school. It was a great place for people watching as it was right on the main road. For me, it had the added bonus of employing a super cute guy I developed a major crush on. I spent a lot of time there during high school, and even met some people I’m still friends with today.

Ironically enough, I don’t have any memories of coffee dates in college. Perhaps by this point coffee was already be woven into the fabric of my life. A cup of coffee here, a cup there.

Coffee still seems a good excuse to get together with friends, but I don’t usually rely on it in my day to day survival, though I do enjoy the occasional afternoon Vietnamese coffee. I think I drank it too much as a child. Maybe that’s what really stunted my growth… The weird thing is that I’m dating a coffee addict. I think my boyfriend would actually die without coffee. I remember when I first met him. Even back then he was never without his coffee. I have never met anyone who is as picky about his coffee. He can tell the quality of coffee the way a dog can recognize the scent of its owner.

There are those who literally cannot make it through the day without the caffeine boost from coffee. I can admit that I do occasionally “need” a cup, but sometimes I don’t even feel the caffeine working. And without a doubt, after I drink coffee I’m always dehydrated.

In New York, the coffee culture is really huge, and I think that’s the part I love about it most. I’m just happy I don’t need an IV for it.

Like this:

I love coffee for the taste. If they made decaf espresso, I’d drink it at night too. I do tend to get ‘caffiene withdrawal headaches’ if I happened to overdo it on the espresso shots the day before. I hate crappy coffee. I’ve become a coffee snob. I can’t even drink Dunks anymore. I’d rather make my own.

I like my coffee strong and it should taste like dirt and pennies. Yuuuum.